Tag: self-confidence

Violated

Meghan Cipolla

I was 15 years old, and in 10th grade at Simi Valley High School. It was lunchtime, and the whole school was congregating in “The Quad.” My friends and I sat under one of the big oak trees, enjoying the shade on a warm June day. Summer was upon us Read more

Meghan Cipolla

Meghan Cipolla lives in Los Angeles, CA - specifically the San Fernando Valley where she’s resided for the past 5 years. She’s had many careers in her life but is currently an accountant in the real estate industry. Meghan has always dreamed of being a writer and works towards that goal and expressing herself creatively on a daily basis. She aspires to help other women navigate the challenges and difficulties of a life authentically lived.

Definitions

Christina Strigas

I think my love language is all of you it does not even exist to write it down. I do not know how I function with my guts pulled apart by life. People leave, then they come back changed, a new unsuspecting death surrounding them. They introduce their partners as Read more

Christina Strigas

Christina Strigas is an author and poet, raised by Greek immigrants, who has written four poetry books. Her poetry book LOVE & VODKA was featured by CBC Books in, “Your Ultimate Canadian Poetry List: 68 Poetry Collections Recommended by you.” Her most recent poetry book, LOVE & METAXA, has garnered positive reviews, including Pank Magazine. Strigas’s poems have appeared in Montreal Writes, Feminine Collective, Neon Mariposa Magazine, Pink Plastic House Journal, BlazeVOX, Thimble Lit Magazine, Twist in Time Literary Magazine, The Temz Review, and Coffin Bell Journal, among others. Her poem, “Dead Wife” was nominated for best of the net 2020. In Spring 2022, she will be releasing her fifth poetry book by Free Lines Press, a French indie magazine that publishes experimental poetry. Twitter: @christinastriga Instagram : @c.strigas_sexyasspoet Facebook: Christina Strigas Author

You are more than the size of your jeans

SA Smith

Being in my 40’s, my size has changed from decade to decade, all women’s do. That’s what is glorious about being a woman. We can change and adapt for what we have to accomplish … our bodies do that too.

SA Smith

SA Smith has always loved the magical life. She is the bestselling Amazon author of FOREVER, her four part young adult paranormal romance series. She is an advocate for women of all shapes and sizes. Believing that we are all enough just as we are, and needing to spread that word far and wide. Having been diagnosed with CRPS over 12 years ago, SA also uses her writing to increase social awareness of the disease. Writing is her passion. She often tells friends that writing is a journey for her. It’s like spending time with friends. "I just follow my characters along on their adventures, like a fly on the wall, and see where they take me." SA currently lives in Florida with her best friend/husband and their one son.

I’m Fabulous (According to Supermodel Cheryl Tiegs)

Natalie Yeh

When Cheryl Tiegs – yes, supermodel Cheryl Tiegs — gave me a hug and said that I looked fabulous in my new dress and polished makeup, well, that was something I never could have dreamed of as a trans kid spending their life hiding as a boy. I also couldn’t Read more

Natalie Yeh

Liminal Spaces with Natalie Yeh -- aerospace engineer with a penchant for the spiritual, artistic, and cerebral -- is an attempt where she tries to accept her own messy humanity in exploring the gifts in her everyday stories and milestones with compassion, gratitude, and mindfulness. Gifts she believes we can all share and learn from when we choose to see our continuous threads of connection in our common humanity rather than uphold paper walls of illusions of separation that some treat as real. When she has free time, she loves to cook, shoot landscape photography, practice martial arts, write and dance. Her Chinese American background, bilingual upbringing, and transgender history all lend to her experiences in exploring the liminal spaces where her history, her present and her future are at odds and of a piece, creating herself and her writing as unique, cross cultural art.

I’m Tired of Being Scared

Michele Rigby Assad

Have you ever said that to yourself?  Admitted that you were exhausted by your own combative thoughts that have consistently held you back? Felt worn down by your need to think through all of the possibilities before you act?  Enough is enough.  You have to stop being your own worst Read more

Michele Rigby Assad

After obtaining a masters degree in Arab Studies at Georgetown University, Michele applied—along with hundreds of others from the university--to work for the CIA. After a long and grueling hiring process and a year of intensive training, she became an intelligence officer for the National Clandestine Service, the covert (operational) arm of the Agency. Serving for a decade as a counterterrorism officer, Michele worked in all of the awful places you hope you’ll never visit, including Iraq during the height of the war. To date, Michele has traveled to 45 countries, lived in six of those, and has a lot of crazy stories to tell about life overseas. While working for the CIA, Michele initially decried the traits that made her different from senior male officers, but later realized that these traits were what made her a great intelligence officer (empathy, intuition, strong interpersonal skills). Now she’s on a mission to show women that they have the elements to be a Femme Fatale—the incredibly intelligent and operationally astute woman that gets stuff done. After years of service to her country, Michele has left the undercover life behind and now works as an international management consultant focused on Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. She has a more “normal” life now and a lot more time to do the things she loves: writing, cooking, traveling for pleasure, walking on the beach—and most of all, inspiring others!